Fibrous structures, including wet wipes, may be useful for cleaning hard and soft surfaces. Wipes, as well as other fibrous structures, like absorbent article topsheets, may also be useful for delivering functional materials to a surface such as skin. For example, wipes and topsheets may deliver compositions that provide skin benefits, such as softening and/or moisturizing the skin, or protection from or treatment of diaper rash and other skin ailments such as eczema. The compositions delivered from the fibrous structure may also protect the skin from irritants present in certain bodily fluids like urine and bowel movements. Fibrous structures may comprise a nonwoven material, and a composition, which may be liquid. The liquid composition may be predominately aqueous, in which the components are freely soluble or where those more lipophilic components are stably dispersed or emulsified within the water. Here, the deposition of high concentrations of lipophilic ingredients can be beneficial to a surface such as skin. The liquid composition may be suitable for use on a variety of surfaces, including, for example, skin, wood, or countertops. For fibrous structures used on skin, like wipes and topsheets, the composition may comprise glyceride copolymers, emulsifiers, emollients, pH adjusting agents and/or pH buffering systems, preservatives, clay minerals, rheology modifiers, and perfumes.
Some compositions for fibrous structures may comprise an emollient. The emollient may maintain or improve the health of skin by delivering beneficial components to the skin, such as an omega-3, omega-6, omega-9 and other fatty acids which make up some vegetable oil triglycerides. Some lipophilic emollients can also leave behind a protection layer on the skin to inhibit the irritation caused by urine, bowel movements, and some environmental pollutants. However, adding an emollient can be cost prohibitive and can destabilize the composition.
In order to provide skin softening benefits in a composition, a wide variety of skin emollients are used today. However, as mentioned above, the inclusion of active levels of skin softening emollients in the compositions may result in rheology and stability issues, creating consumer trade-offs in skin softening and stability of the composition used with the fibrous structure. Regarding stability, many of the unsaturated emollients used today are prone to oxidation, which can lead to consumer negatives related to off odors and decreased softness performance. This instability can require the inclusion of expensive anti-oxidants to inhibit the degradation of the composition. Further, the rising costs of some emollients, including silicones and functionalized silicones, have perpetuated the need for lower cost alternatives derived from sustainable sources.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for new skin softening emollients that can provide softening benefits to the skin and other surfaces and can replace or be used in combination with existing emollients, such as silicone and silicone derivatives, to maximize the softening performance of the compositions. Additionally, there is a desire to find a softening active that can be derived from a sustainable source. There is also a desire to find a softening active that leads to a stable product comprising an emulsifier system.